AN EVIL stepmother who beat her adoptive son to death with a garden shovel has been sentenced to 18 years in prison. Yulia Blokhina, 34, was convicted on February 20 after savagely murdering Stepan Kukin after he had taken food from the fridge. Vologda Regional Court, Russia, heard how Blokhina called an ambulance an hour […]
AN EVIL stepmother who beat her adoptive son to death with a garden shovel has been sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Yulia Blokhina, 34, was convicted on February 20 after savagely murdering Stepan Kukin after he had taken food from the fridge.
Vologda Regional Court, Russia, heard how Blokhina called an ambulance an hour after the six-year-old boy had lost consciousness.
According to reports, it took judge Ludmila Verkhneva 40 minutes to list Stepan’s horrific injuries inflicted on him by his stepmother.
Somen women in attendance of the hearing had to leave the courtroom as the injuries were called out.
The brutal assault occurred in August of 2018 after Blokhina spotted Stepan trying to take food from the fridge.
Blokhina, who reportedly had banned the boy from entering the kitchen, went into a rage and attacked the boy ‘to punish him for disobedience’.
She grabbed a garden shovel and started beating the child up with the tool, investigators said.
The boy’s crying infuriated Blokhina even more and she continued to batter him even after he lost consciousness, according to the court’s records.
Forensics said the woman, who was drunk during the crime, hit the boy 135 times in total.
Russian media reports that it took Blokhina and her husband Yevgeniy Blokhina, 36 an hour before an ambulance was called.
The boy was then rushed to intensive care.
The long list of injuries inflicted on the little boy included an open head injury, cerebral haemorrhage, multiple ribs fractures, collarbone fractures, severe laceration and bruises all over the body.
Stepan fought for his life nine months but died in April of last year without regaining consciousness.
Judge Verkhneva said during the hearing: “The boy fell into a deep coma and his condition was irreversible. He was battered with particular cruelty.”
A mental examination showed that Blokhina was aware she was committing violence against a child at the time of the crime.
Neither the woman nor her husband have suffered from any mental disorders, experts said.
Yevgeniy Blokhin, the stepfather, who witnessed the attack and did nothing to save the child’s life, was charged with torture and sentenced to 4 years in prison.
His wife Yulia Blokhina, who partially pleaded guilty, was charged with murder of a minor committed with particular cruelty.
Stepan had lived in the family for a year and a half and on a daily basis, he was beaten and insulted by Blokhina’s biological children.
The adoptive parents were constantly starving the boy and locking him at home so neighbours could not see bruises on his face, local media report.
Stepan’s biological mother Alla Kukina, who was banned from visiting her son by the Blokhins, said to local media: “When I saw my son in hospital, I thought they had pushed him into a meat grinder.”
Blokhina has three biological children, aged 14, seven and four.
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